The highly anticipated Jimmy Buffett concert has been postponed until
Sunday, July 11, because of concerns about Tropical Storm Alex, city
officials told the Press-Register this afternoon. While Alex is expected to go ashore in Mexico or Texas, forecasters
believe the system could cause storm surge on the Alabama coastline on
Wednesday. Concert organizers are worried that the storm surge
could send water up the beach and under the staging, undermining the
stage's stability.

Tar patties from the Gulf oil spill started washing ashore on Front Beach
around noon on Monday, a day after the oil first made landfall on the
Mississippi mainland in Jackson County. Some of the oil globs were washing around some of the X-Tex fencing that
has been in place as part of a pilot program of the oil-absorbing
fabric.

Vice President Joe Biden plans to stop in New Orleans and Pensacola Tuesday to survey the oil response and meet with victims and local officials. Biden will be in New Orleans in the morning and Pensacola in the afternoon.

Researchers predict the Gulf of Mexico "dead zone," an underwater area
with little or no oxygen, will be unusually large this year. But it's
unknown how the oil spill will affect it. Government-funded
scientists expect a zone measuring 6,500 to 7,800 square miles -- about
the size of New Jersey. Over the past five years, it's averaged
6,000 square miles.

BP says the rig drilling the relief well that's the best hope of
stopping the Gulf oil spill has made it within about 20 feet
horizontally of the blown-out well that's gushing crude. BP
Senior Vice President Kent Wells said today that the rig is going to
drill an additional 900 feet down before crews cut in sideways and start
pumping in heavy mud to try to stop the flow from the damaged well.
It's currently about 16,770 feet down. Wells says BP is moving
extremely cautiously to make sure everything is lined up correctly and
the relief well is still on target to be finished by early August. A
second well is being drilled as a backup.